Antique 19th Century Flush Fret 7 String Banjo (possibly A Buckbee)
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:6120 |
NOTE: People are concerned about the cutaway that was made in the tension hoop. This was done because with a hide head, the tension hoop could be tightened flush with the head, but a modern high crown synthetic head coes not have a high enough crown. It is NOT because the neck is bowed.ALSO NOTE: The fifth string peg hole could use a dowel and redrill. The reason it got messed up is because the neck is to thin to accommodate a modern tuner. When I go...t it it had a fiddle peg that whick was tin enough to be seated deep enough it to the neck. However the peg it to set firm and tunes just fine.ALSO NOTE: The neck was recently reset by a luthier.Here is a fine banjo of a rare breed. A 7 String Banjo with 6 main strings like a guitar and one short drone string like a regular 5 string banjo has. The scale length is about 24 1/2 inches. The neck is made of walnut with a dark veneer on the front of the peg head and the fretboard. It has one of those spun over that were made by rolling metal over a wooden rim with a lathe. The wood of the pot appears to be ebony and it is very heavy and gives it a lot of volume but with a nice mellow tone. The pot has 39 hooks, all of which are original, so you can get a good even tension on the head. The banjo is unmarked, but the tailpiece is of the sort that the Buckbee Banjo Co. Used. The patent date on the tailpiece is January 4 1887. I believe the it to be the original tailpiece considering that there were very few manufacturers that made 7 string banjos. If that's the case, then the banjo was made between 1887 and 1890 as they stopped production in 1890. All of the hardware is original except for the tuners and the bridge. The 6 tuners on the peg head are metal friction pegs with plastic buttons. The drone string tuner is a grover sta-tite tuner. All of the tuning pegs are in working order. However, when the drone string tuner was installed it wasn't seated deep enough so when i tuned it up to pitch the first time, it came out and took a chunk of wood with it, as you can see in the picture. But it is firmly seated now and works as it should. The stick was reset recently but is still slightly off. The bridge had to be shaved down a sixteenth of an inch. The bridge is a modified 5 string banjo bridge but allows plenty of spacing for the strings. The neck is pretty straight and there are no dead spots. The strings sit obout a quarter inch above tue fret board at the 120th fret marker.I had to carve a piece out of the tension hoop where the neck meets the pot because when I switched from a skin head to a synthetic one I couldn't get it down far enough. The pot is in perfect condition. The neck has some scratches but nothing deep. I did have some dips around the first and second frets filled in and the repairs are visible. All in all, it is a fine banjo. Looks and sounds great. It's been pretty well taken care of during its roughly 120 year life. I have it strung with If you have any questions don't hesitate to message me. I am also accepting offers. My shipping price is only for the continental U.S. If you live anywhere else, please contact me before purchasing so that I may adjust the price. It will be shipped in a chipboard case.P.S. for those of you who are not familiar with the term "flush fret" it means that it doesn't have actual frets, rather marks where the frets would be to guide your hand. The fretless sound is one of a kind.
